The Secret History of Grinnell Memory Books

The Scarlet & Black captures student perspective on current events that may one day become Grinnell College history, while The Grinnell Magazine adds another layer of reporting and recording. But there’s only one publication — the Grinnell Memory Book — whose sole purpose is to compile the memories of alums in words and pictures, to capture the experience of an entire 50th Reunion class. Although they’re not actually a secret, most Grinnellians don’t hear about memory books until they get close to celebrating that special reunion.

Award-winning journalist and author David Hechler ’72 helped edit the most recent memory book. Motivated by that experience, he has written an article explaining what these books are, how they get created, and the ways they’ve evolved during the nine years they have been produced.

Read Hechler’s story.